Author Archives: Mel Minter

Kristina Jacobsen and Meredith Wilder Take ‘Elemental’ Approach to New Album

Kristina Jacobsen and Meredith Wilder. Photo by Jesse Littlebird Photography, © 2018.

Two of the region’s admired singer/songwriters, Albuquerque’s Kristina Jacobsen and Meredith Wilder, the latter now residing in Louisville, Colorado, are this week releasing their much anticipated EP, Elemental, whose six cowritten tracks illuminate recent personal challenges and epiphanies in their lives. The handmade album also offers a testament to the process of songwriting collaboration that the two have been exploring over the last couple of years. They’ll celebrate the release with two appearances this weekend in Albuquerque. Continue reading

A Masterful Pairing: Hersch and Cohen ‘Live in Healdsburg’

Anat Cohen/Fred Hersch
Live in Healdsburg (Anzic Records)
A review

Anat Hersch and Fred Cohen— Oh, wait. That’s not quite right. But then, given how musically symbiotic their relationship is on Live in Healdsburg, this renaming of clarinetist Anat Cohen and pianist Fred Hersch is apt. Continue reading

Guitar Heroes Honor the Late Guitar Hero Steve Maase on the Release of His Book, ‘Music Theory You Can Use’

Steve Maase. Courtesy of Lily Maase.

This Saturday at the Outpost, the Inaugural Steve Maase Legacy Guitar Summit will celebrate the life of local guitar legend Steve Maase and mark the official worldwide release of his book, Music Theory You Can Use, a guitar method book over 20 years in the making. Presented by his daughter Lily Maase, a formidable guitarist, producer, bandleader, and educator in her own right, and Guitar Dad Productions, the event includes three generations of Steve’s students. Included are several top-drawer names in the guitar world—Tim Pierce and Mikey Wright, whose work has backed such artists as Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, and Elton John on more than 1,000 albums; and Eric McFadden—each of whom, like Lily herself, began their journey up the fingerboard here in Albuquerque under Steve’s tutelage. They’ll be joined by the rhythm section of the Great Blue Whales, the Albuquerque band with whom Steve played for years. “What we’re really trying to do is present an evening-long overview of who my father was as a player and how he touched us as a musician,” says Lily. The evening will include both some of Steve’s original music that has never been heard before, which Lily will play, and the music that helped shape him as a musician. Continue reading

Eric Vloeimans and the Sound of Music

Two recent releases from Dutch trumpeter Eric VloeimansLevanter, featuring the trio of Vloeimans, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, and Dutch pianist Jeroen van Vliet; and Carrousel, Vloeimans’ second collaboration with Holland Baroque, following their Old, New & Blue release—offer soul-satisfying music that’s hard to classify. The compositions and performances on these two distinctly different albums combine, in different ratios, elements of rock, jazz, world, baroque, and even a touch of musette into singular Vloeimansesque amalgams. Continue reading

Circuit Rider Embraces the Mystery

Circuit Rider: Bill Frisell, Ron Miles, and Brian Blade. Photo by John Spiral.

Circuit Rider comprises three of the most accomplished—and most generous—musicians on the planet: cornetist Ron Miles, guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Brian Blade. They ride into Albuquerque on February 25 for an Outpost fundraiser, and they bring with them a timely musical message that is reflected in both their material and their approach to it. Continue reading